I’m inside writing for a couple of hours today because it’s too darn hot to be out in the sun. It reminded me though to post about growing sunflowers and how I’ve been impressed by how hardy they have been through dry weather. I sowed these seeds back in September when there was still some moisture from August’s rain in the ground, expecting that we would get the usual return of rains in October, but it has been extraordinarily dry. They are in a plot down the hill, two hundred metres or so from the house, so they really had to sink or swim without further care.
The buckwheat and fenugreek I had trialled there in July faded away, but to my amazement the sunflower seedlings stayed green day after dry day.
I was prompted to take the photo above because we got the solar pump fixed and now are pumping water from the dam to this paddock, and I had just given these seedlings the first of the water, so from now on they should grow well.
This means that I will move a large part of the vegetable garden to this plot, especially things like lettuce that need plenty of water. It’s a relief and also good news for the house rainwater, which couldn’t support too many more weeks of hosing the garden. So as soon as a breeze comes in – was that one now? – I will head back down and continue with fencing and hoeing it. I think more sweetcorn will be the first in, and maybe watermelons in acknowledgement of these hot dry days.